The South Pacific County Humane Society began as a grassroots effort to help the animals of the Long Beach Peninsula. Dawn Gregory formed a group called the Pet Protectors, a small non-profit organization. Another small group began under the name of the Humane Society. The Pet Protectors and the Humane Society each worked to trap and alter feral cats, providing a loose network of foster homes, providing temporary refuge for stray pets, and connecting them with forever homes. Meanwhile, Ed Ketel and Catherine Lindblad’s Oceanside Animal Clinic in Seaview, Washington, was pinch-hitting with medical care and very temporary shelter as they could without jeopardizing resources for their patients.